Prep for September, October at VBI Session II

LOS ANGELES, Cali. — Since its inception four summers ago, VBI Session II has developed into one of the top Lincoln-Douglas debate institutes in the country. Session II — which takes place from August 10 to 23, 2008 on the campus of UCLA — prepares students with a deep understanding of the arguments they can expect to see at all levels of debate.

Uniquely, the program features both seminars — which combine the student choice of our pioneering modules system with the continuity of lab time — and a unique, intensive preparation session on the actual September/October topic. This year, our camp is scheduled a week later than in years past, ensuring that we know the topic for almost the entire camp.

Students who worked with us at Session II last summer went on to achieve great success this season. Two debaters shared this season’s record for bids accumulated — eight — and one of them attended VBI Session II. (The other attended VBI Session I!)

Session II debaters went on to win many tournaments. Some of these include the Woodward National Championship, the Tim Averill Invitational (Manchester), the Victory Briefs Tournament, the Scarsdale Invitational, the Hockaday Invitational, and the American University Debate Invitational. They claimed top speaker honors at Newark, Scarsdale, and the Westchester Classic.

One reached the semifinal round of the New York State Tournament, one claimed the state championship of Texas, and two closed out the New Jersey State Tournament. Many qualified for Nationals; at least one was an NFL District Student of the Year.

Session II students debated the final round of many tournaments, including the St. Mark’s Heart of Texas Invitational, Harvard National Invitational, and the Bronx Round Robin. They reached the semifinal round of the Barkley Forum for High Schools (Emory), the Stanford National Invitational, the New York City Invitational (Bronx Science), the Newark Debates, the Grapevine Classic, the Colleyville Heritage Winter Invitational, the Ridge Debates, and the USC Trojan Championships.

Our younger debaters also received top accolades, including the title of junior varsity Northeast Champion, the J.V. state championship of New Jersey, and a semifinal round appearance at Novice Nationals.

As in the past, Session II features a very strong faculty.

Josh Anderson, debate coach at Brentwood School in California, will serve as curriculum director for Session II. Anderson was one of the top competitors on the national circuit; he won Stanford, Alta, and the Omaha Westside. He was state champion as a junior and top speaker at the TOC as a senior. As a parliamentary debater in college, he won both national championship tournaments: NPDA Nationals and the National Parliamentary Tournament of Excellence, where he was also top speaker.

Mike Bietz, director of debate at Harvard-Westlake School in California, is the only person in the history of Lincoln-Douglas debate to coach debaters to win both Nationals and the TOC in the same year. His students also made history by becoming the only debaters to close out the Glenbrooks. The following year, his debaters did it again…with a 37-1 total ballot count! No other coach has ever had students close out the Glenbrooks (and, accordingly, no one else has done it twice). He has also coached close-outs at Greenhill, Blake, Hopkins, the Iowa Caucus, and Valley.

Chris Castillo, debate coach at Altamont School in Alabama, is one of the most highly-preferred critics on the national circuit. Castillo has coached students to success on the national circuit — including final round appearances at Churchill and Houston-Memorial — and to success on the local circuit. Indeed, in addition to coaching a debater to finals at TFA State, Castillo has also directed a pilot debate program at YES College Preparatory Schools in Houston. (The school serves economically disadvantaged students from the local area.)

Mira Chernick, debate coach at Poly Prep Country Day School in New York, compiled a great record of success as a debater at Lexington High School. In addition to thrice attending the TOC, Mira — who competed as “Micki” when at Lexington — won the Kaiser at Monticello and the Tim Averill Invitational at Manchester. She also debated in the semifinal round of the Harvard National Invitational. Mira received top speaker honors at both Hendrick Hudson and Manchester.

Anjan Choudhury, director of forensics at Walt Whitman High School in Maryland, has, in recent years, coached the champions of the Princeton Classic, the Alta Silver & Black Invitational, the American University Debate Invitational, the Lexington Round Robin, and the NCFL Grand National Tournament. He is now an attorney in Washington, D.C., but when he was in high school, Anjan was a nationally-dominant debater himself, winning the Stanford Round Robin and debating the semifinal round of the TOC.

Ben Clancy graduates this year from Westwood High School in Texas. He won this year’s Colleyville Heritage Winter Invitational and debated in the semifinal round of both the Greenhill Fall Classic and the Houston-Memorial Endgame Tournament. In addition, Ben competed in late elimination rounds at Emory, the Victory Briefs Tournament, and the UT Longhorn Classic. Ben won the titles of a number of major local tournaments, including Stony Point, Round Rock, and O’Connor; he also thrice debated in the outrounds at TFA State.

Wesley Craven, director of debate at South Eugene High School in Oregon, has coached students to the final round of Nationals and to the championships of a variety of tournaments, including the Alta Silver & Black Invitational, the Auburn Valley Invitational, the Meadows Invitational, Federal Way, the Whitman Tournament, and the Northwest Round Robin. His debaters have also won the Oregon state title three times. (Farther north, he also coached a Washington state champion.)

Jon Cruz, director of forensics and of Lincoln-Douglas debate at the Bronx High School of Science in New York, has coached champions of a wide variety of tournaments, including Nationals, the Northeast Championships, Wake Forest, and Lexington. This season, his debaters won the Woodward National Championships, the Newark Debates, and the Scarsdale Invitational, and claimed top speaker honors at the Harker Invitational and the Westchester Classic. Cruz is a member of both the TOC Advisory Committee and the NFL Rules & Recommendations Committee.

Douglas Jeffers, assistant coach at the Bronx High School of Science in New York, won the majority of the tournaments he attended over the course of his own high school debate career. The 2006 National Champion — a title he won just weeks after debating the semifinal round of the TOC — Douglas also won Barkley Forum for High Schools (Emory), the New York City Invitational (Bronx Science), the Bronx Round Robin, Lexington, and the Florida Blue Key. He was top speaker at many tournaments, including TFA State, Greenhill, and the Vassar Round Robin.

Dan Jennis, debate coach at Brophy College Preparatory School in Arizona and novice coach at Hopkins High School in Minnesota, achieved success at both the local and national levels and has helped encourage the similar success in his own students. At Brophy Prep, Dan has coached debaters to late outrounds at Harvard and Meadows, semifinals at ASU and Wake Forest, and finals at Alta and the ASU Round Robin. At local tournaments, the Hopkins novices have consistently advanced to elimination rounds.

Gary Johnson, debate coach at Strake Jesuit College Preparatory School in Texas, has compiled one of the most impressive records of any young coach in the United States and helped build one of the national circuit’s most persistent powerhouses. At Strake Jesuit, he has coached two champions of the TFA State Tournament, close-outs of both VBT and Churchill, and champions of the Greenhill Fall Classic, the Wake Forest National Early Bird, the UT Longhorn Classic, and the Blake School’s Edie Holiday Tournament.

Ryan Lawrence, assistant coach at Presentation High School in California, is one of the top debaters on the collegiate parliamentary debate circuit. Building on a successful high school Lincoln-Douglas debate career — which included winning the Stanford National Invitational — Ryan has garnered top honors as a debater for UC Berkeley; last season, he was the top speaker at the NPDA National Tournament and debated the final round at the Parliamentary Tournament of Excellence.

John Lewis, in his role as a debate coach, has had students in outrounds of every TOC-qualifying tournament in the state of Texas. And in his role as a debater, John was, perhaps unsurprisingly, one of the top competitors from the Lone Star State. He debated the final round at the Grapevine Classic and competed in the elimination rounds at such tournaments as the Glenbrooks, Stanford, and the Tournament of Champions. He also debated at the MBA, Greenhill, and Stanford Round Robins.

Amanda Liverzani, formerly of the Meadows School in Nevada, was the top speaker at the Greenhill Round Robin and the winner of both the ASU Southwest Championship and the ASU Tournament of Excellence. Since graduating, she has coached students to outrounds at several national circuit tournaments including Berkeley and the Glenbrooks. Amanda is also an active competitor on the Miss America circuit; indeed, she her reign as Miss Pioneer Valley has featured a platform of “Breaking Down Barriers through Communication.”

Bilal Malik graduates this year from James Logan High School in California. He recently won the California State Championship. This was only the latest feather in Bilal’s cap. As a junior, he had debated the final round of the NFL National Tournament. Bilal has also competed in the semifinal round of both the Greenhill Fall Classic and the College Preparatory School Invitational, debated late elimination rounds at the NCFL Grand National Tournament, and won the Head Royce Jayhawk Invitational.

Peter D. Van Elswyk, nationally-dominant college parliamentary debater at Biola College in California and former debate coach at Bellevue High School in Washington. His Bellevue debaters laced among the Top Twenty at Nationals and won the University of Puget Sound Debate Tournament and the Blake Round Robin. Under his instruction, Bellevue debaters for the first time qualified to the TOC, received invitations to round robins, and cleared at Nationals.

Andy Werner, formerly of Strake Jesuit College Preparatory School in Texas, helped establish his team as both a locally- and nationally-dominant debate dynasty. He was the 2006 TFA State Champion; this title was the crowning achievement of a successful career that included the championship of the Blake School’s Edie Holiday Tournament and a final round appearance at the Houston-Memorial Endgame Tournament. Werner also debated in outrounds at such tournaments as the Glenbrooks, St. Mark’s, and Harvard.

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